Sergey Ivanovich Botvich
- Associations
- Foreign citizens
- Entrepreneurs
The man was detained after 2021. Botvich was charged under two articles - "espionage" and "intelligence activity". We are talking about a 59-year-old man who, although he does not have Belarusian citizenship, grew up and lived in Belarus. This is Botvich Sergei Ivanovich - he owned companies whose total turnover amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and some of them were registered in the EU.
Both the man's sentence and the case's plot are unknown, but he is definitely in prison now, since other forms of punishment are not provided for under these articles.
Although Sergei does not have Belarusian citizenship, he grew up and lived in Belarus, he owned companies with a total turnover of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and some of them were registered in the EU.
Sergey was involved in business in Belarus, Russia, France and Lithuania — mainly tourism and wholesale export of coal from Eastern Europe to the Baltic and Western Europe. The total turnover of Botvich's companies in the "fat" years was several hundred thousand dollars a year. In 2014, Botvich participated in a project to build a charcoal plant near Svisloch. Another of his major projects was the purchase of the Bogudenki estate near Svisloch for 30 thousand dollars.
The coal plant was never built, and a criminal case was opened against Botvich in June 2018. The proceedings were terminated in accordance with paragraph 5, part 1, article 246 of the Criminal Procedure Code - most likely, the man left the country. Almost all of the Lithuanian ones went bankrupt, the French and Russian ones do not operate. The Bogudenki estate was taken away from him and it is still hopelessly on sale.
Trial outcome 15.11.2022: 13 years of imprisonment in colony under general regime conditions.
How to write a letter
✏️ A postcard with words of encouragement (a poem by your favorite author, song lyrics, or a beautiful quote). Trust us, even such simple gestures are very meaningful to a person in jail.
✏️ Your life events. To a person who is in isolation for a long time, any story about your routine endeavors will be a window into normal life. Your day-to-day worries and mundane matters are much more interesting than the daily grind of life behind bars.
✏️ It is important to share news. Mention the most notable and interesting occurrences depending on your pen-pal's interests.
✍️️ Remember that every letter is censored. This means that your letters are read by strangers whose main goal is to limit inmates' access to information or to use it against the prisoners or even you.
So try to avoid:
👉️️ harsh statements regarding ongoing political matters
👉 statements against the authorities and public servants
👉 foul language
👉 discussion of the circumstances of the criminal case